Dear friends and family,
I am writing to you on my free afternoon from Porto in Portugal. It’s amazing how quickly the time has flown in the past week. Only one more week of the tour to go before Em and I head to Rome, which we are both really excited about! But first, I wanted to share a few of the adventures we have had over the past week as we travelling from Morocco, back to Spain and through to Portugal.
For the past week I’ve been dealing with both a cold, which seems to be going around the bus through the air-conditioning system, and “Moroccan belly”, which is the dreaded illness that mess’ with your tummy and digestive system, due to the bacteria found on all the plates and cutlery in Morocco. So there’s been a lot of R&R this week as well as sightseeing to allow my body a chance to recover! So I will try to forget that it’s Morocco that got me so sick and let you know about all the wonderful things about this interesting country…
Our first port of arrival was Tangers where we stayed one night. Em and I shared a hotel room and during the middle of the night there was a party outside out bedroom window! We awoke to horns beeping and music playing with people singing and shouting. Apparently this is the quite normal for a wedding celebration… and this from a people that don’t drink any alcohol!
On the Monday morning we travelled to Fez. It was just as we were leaving Tangers, however, that we started to hear a banging noise from underneath the bus. When the noise kept going we told our driver and he pulled quickly off the freeway. When the driver and tour guide went to investigate the engine compartment out scampered two very bewildered looking 12 year old boys! They had stowed away under the bus as they thought we were going on the ferry back to Spain. These stowaways must have been leading a pretty terrible life to go to such extremes, but our tour guide says it has happened every time he’s taken a tour to Morocco!
On a more positive note, the food in Morocco was AMAZING! (Yes, yes I know I am now sick because of it but it’s due to the plates and cutlery rather than the food itself!) The tradition method of cooking is called a tagine, which is like a meat, vegetable, fruit and nut casserole cooked in a terracotta pot served with cous cous, and everything has a lovely pinch of saffron – Yummy! We dined like royalty in Morocco every lunch and dinner and it was very reasonably priced. At breakfast time we were served croissants and other French pastries as the Moroccan people have only be out of French rule since the last century.
On Tuesday we went on a tour of Fez with our local guide Mohammed (or MoMo as he was nicknamed) taking us to a lookout over the city, to the royal palace gates and finally into the Medina, which means old city. The Medina forms the local market place and resembles something you would have seen in the movie Aladdin with its narrow laneways and clay facades. Though the heat outside may have been 40 degrees the Medina’s shady breezeways were a cool relief from the heat. You could easily get lost in these laneways, and after dinner Em and I almost did, luckily we were able to back track and find the right turn otherwise we could have spent a good few hours trying to get out!
The next day we ventured into the 45 degree heat to visit the Roman ruins at Volubilis, which were amazing. But, we could wait to get back onto the bus and into the air-conditioning! We then travelled to Meknes a beautiful Moroccan city, where we saw the royal palace gates, the Medina and went into a Mosque. That evening we had a Gala dinner with more delicious food and a performance of belly dancers!
On Thursday we said goodbye to Morocco and boarded the ferry back to Tarifa, but not before a minor incident where the bus broke down. Luckily the tour leader and bus driver were able to fix it, but for a second there I was worried that we wouldn’t be getting out of Morocco! We arrived safely in Seville in the evening and that night headed to for one of the girl’s birthday, which was a really fun insight into Spanish nightlife!
The next morning we had a walking tour of Seville where we saw the Golden Tower, the Royal Gardens and the University. After the walk we were pretty tired so Em and I went shopping. It was only when we sat down to lunch that Em realised that she didn’t have her iPhone… it had been stolen. So we spent the afternoon at the police station filing a report. Em was very upset about it – but she now has a cheap phone and a new laptop to stay connected and with her insurance she will have a new iPhone awaiting her when she returns to Australia. It makes me even more cautious about looking after my valuables as pick pocketing is very common over here. That evening, to forget our troubles, we went to a Flamenco show, which was absolutely stunning. The costumes and the dances were outstanding! There were 6 female dancers and one male, accompanied by a trio of guitarists and singers conveying their traditional Spanish tunes.
On Saturday we were on the bus to Lisbon, Portugal and that evening met the 14 new members of our tour group over a huge group dinner. The next day we had free time to explore Lisbon, which is a very cosmopolitan city, which reminds me of Melbourne. We also had to adjust to speaking Portuguese rather than Spanish to the local populace.
Sa. Xx
